Price stickers on new Prius cars?

I've been looking at new '05 hybrids. It occurred to me only yesterday that in all my shopping I have yet to see a price list pasted in the window of any of them. Having been quoted sales prices thousands of dollars above the MSRP, I wonder if the stickers are being removed so the potential customer can't detect the overage?

In particular, several online data sites report the Prius's MSRP as $21,275 and the invoice price (the nominal cost to the dealer) as $19,590. Quotes to me have been in the $24,000 range for the unadorned single trim level in which the Prius is available.

I'm as happy as anyone to see free enterprise flourishing, but it happens there's a US law against removing the price sticker until the vehicle is sold. It's not a toothless law, either. It's a Class A misdemeanor with a permitted $100,000 fine for an individual (twice that for an organization) and/or up to a year in jail... per incident.

The federal law in question is the Automobile Information Disclosure Act or more commonly the Monroney Act (after its author) or the Price Sticker Act. A summary of its provisions can be found at

formatting link
"usdoj" = United States Department of Justice "ocl" = Office of Civil Litigation"

This is occurring in western New York state. What's the practice where you are?

Reply to
Brent
Loading thread data ...

There are a few exceptions to having the Monroney Label affixed to a vehicle. It can be removed for some demonstrators but still must be available for examination by a customer. It can also be removed for used (previously titled) vehicles. Other than that, the label should be affixed somewhere on the vehicle.

Reply to
Ray O

I can tell you that in California the dealers add to the sticker price once the negotiations begin. I was looking at package #6 (about $26,500) and didn't catch the price until we started the 4 square game on paper where the price was $29,500 - a $3,000 overage due to "demand" so the dealer's salesman says. They sell a lot of them (75 a week so he said) so people are paying it out here. Some dealers who don't move a lot don't have the selection so the larger dealer can sit back and get what he can. Reminds me of Harley-Davidson's overages, although I believe that has slowed a bit since the housing price (er, tax adjustment) boom has taken off and killed a lot of the recreational vehicles sales.

You can negotiate with the salesman, but it still will hinge on the pit bull at the counter if he will sell you the car at sticker or not. Good luck.

(fwiw, I got them down to $600 over but that was all).

B~

Reply to
B. Peg

You kind of confused me at first with your UK e-mail address.

Here in Californis the required sticker is always in the window (assuming it is a new car), and since the Prius model became plentiful a few months ago, the local dealer is willing to discount a little below the sticker price.

However, I haven't checked since gasoline prices have hit $3 a gallon out here. Perhaps demand is driving the Prius price back up.

Merritt

Reply to
Merritt Mullen

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.